Wheatgrass is a humble grass that’s also a powerhouse of nutrients for your dog. It’s the name given to the newly sprouted shoots of Triticum aestivum, the common wheat plant.

Don’t worry though it’s a grass not a grain!

A true superfood, wheatgrass contains vitamins, minerals, enzymes, amino acids, and large amounts of chlorophyll. It’s a great way to help complete nutrient gaps in your dogs diet, and provides important antioxidant protection.

It can be fed as fresh juice or powder, and is safe for all dogs.

Wheatgrass can help your dog:

Vitamin E and rancid fats

From our perspective, the biggest reason to add wheatgrass to your dog’s diet is because it is rich in Vitamin E. This is an important but often overlooked vitamin that can be tricky to get from other food sources.

Vitamin E has many functions, but the most important one is helping to prevent the oxidation of fat. This is critical to keeping your dog healthy. For example, without sufficient antioxidant protection the DHA in the cell membrane of your dog’s eyes can oxidise, causing vision impairment as they age.

Research indicates that antioxidant supplementation is less effective that obtaining it from food sources. So it’s important to have it in your dogs diet from food!

The amount of Vitamin E required depends on the amount of polyunsaturated fats (PUFA’s) in the diet. Higher amounts of PUFA’s (especially EPA & DHA found in fish) requires more vitamin E protection. As a guide, the NRC 2006 recommendation is to feed 0.9mg - 1.8mg of vitamin E per gram of fatty acid.

We realise that is going to be too complicated for the average person at home, which is why we have the perfect amount in our Whoa Nelly! raw dog food. If we are not available in your area, there’s a rule of thumb feeding amount at the end of this article.

Reducing inflammation

Wheatgrass also has an important role in reducing inflammation in your dogs body. This is one of our primary goals with our Whoa Nelly! food, because in our view reducing inflammation is one of the best ways to improve the overall health of your dog.

Inflammation is a natural process caused by the immune system when it protects the body against injury and infection. It’s a normal part of healing, but if it occurs chronically (ie. too much) it can be incredibly damaging. Research shows that inflammation causes diseases including cancer, heart disease and autoimmune disorders.

Wheatgrass contains properties that have been shown in several studies to be an effective anti-inflammatory agent, and so it is a useful food to help stop these diseases from occurring.

Cancer prevention and treatment

We believe that food can contribute to preventing or causing cancer. There are several studies which show that wheatgrass is useful as both a cancer preventative and as an adjunct to cancer treatment.

Obviously more research needs to be done, but the initial findings are promising. We think there is enough evidence to make further investigation worthwhile. Especially considering the unbelievably high rate of cancer in dogs.

With wheatgrass being a safe ingredient it seems like a pragmatic addition to all dogs diets.

How to feed

Wheatgrass is available as a freshly juiced product and as a powder. Feeding fresh juice is preferable, but it’s not a simple option for most people. Using the powder is also great.

Choose organic wheatgrass if you can. You’ll find it’s much cheaper buying online in bulk rather than in small amounts at a health food shop.

The amount to feed really depends on the fat levels of the food, but here’s a rough guide.

Approx daily feeding amounts:

Small dog = 1/4 teaspoon

Medium dog = 1/2 teaspoon

Large dog = 3/4 teaspoon

And of course if you are feeding our Whoa Nelly! raw dog food there is no need to add anything. Your dog’s diet is already amazing! 🐾